Failure mode E-coat paint runner. Testing, optimization and implementation of the blow off process after E-coating.

The thesis work that I am going to introduce in this abstract, it regards one of the most common failures in automotive industry, called Paint runner. Robert Bosch company is working since 1973 to produce wiper arms and blades for OE (Original Equipment) and AM (After Market). RBBE also deals with processes as compounding, coating, injection molding and extrusion of rubbers. Leader of this market and also promoter of new technologies and solutions. A wiper arm is defined as the contact consisting of a conducting arm that rotates over a series of fixed contacts and comes to rest on an outlet. The ED (Electrical Drives Division) is the main department that takes care about these products, accessories and services. The lead plant is located in Tienen, small village in Belgium. There are also other smaller sites for this production (in Mexico, Serbia and China). Bosch Group in Belgium generated sales for 843 million euros, a substantial part of 73.1 billion euros of the worldwide. It produced 50 milions of wiper blades, 13 millions of wiper arms and 0,8 millions of wiper rubbers. The real estate is about 129660 square meters and there are 962 employees (February 2015). Although there’s a huge list of companies that buy these Bosch products and services, as such as Ford, VW, GM, BMW, Renault, Toyota, Fiat and so on. RBBE is focused to improve the main processes and has one of the most modern industrial E- coating system. The Manufacturing Department works for both markets (OE and AM) and MSE1-OE is where I worked in these 6 months. Its role is to improve the production processes, to implement new solutions and reduce the number of common failures under their rigorous target. In fact, the production of wiper arms is penalized by the presence of several different kinds of errors with different causes. Lakloper is the Dutch term for PAINTRUNNER. The Lakloper KTL BT is about the PAINTRUNNER Arm Head (BT); the Lakloper KTL VE is about the PAINTRUNNER Rod/Connection Part (VE) Lakloper is the Dutch term for PAINTRUNNER. The Lakloper KTL BT is about the PAINTRUNNER Arm Head (BT); the Lakloper KTL VE is about the PAINTRUNNER Rod/Connection Part (VE)